#76: Spasms, Fits, Convulsions -- Seizure Matters [26:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (956)

Publication Date: June 29th, 2007. Installment #5 of Spasms, Fits, Convulsions — Seizure Matters:

• Glioma Palliation Focuses on Seizure Prevention: Palliation specialist physician provides what he calls “simple medication regimen at the end of life.”
• Assessing Pediatric Seizure Drugs — Ativan versus Valium: The NIH’s Pediatric Seizure Study.
• Gamma Knife For Epilepsy May Spare Verbal Recall: Gamma Knife radiosurgery may be superior to gross excisional surgeries for epilepsy.
• Prior Consent For Anticonvulsant Generic Switch Is ‘Crucial’ To Patients: the American Academy of Neurology supports legislation that would require insurers to get the informed consent of physicians and patients with epilepsy - before pharmacies can switch to generics.

And last but not least: Hair products as the “new frontier” in anti-seizure medication drug delivery, with the slogan, “Less Flake, Less Shake”? Next week’s show: 3^rd installment of Podcast for Peds: Issues related to problems of the developing nervous system. We?ll report important news related to autism research, and other peds-specific insights. Thanks for staying subscribed to STAT — The Podcast of Clinical Neurology News.

Weblinks:

• http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2007/nichd-23.htm - for detailed information on the Pediatric Seizure Study.
• http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/study_pediatric_seizure_QA_052207.cfm - for the list of the 11 medical centers involved in the Pediatric Seizure Study.

 

 #62: Spasms, Fits, Convulsions - Seizure matters, Installment #4 [29:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (602)

#62: Spasms, Fits, Convulsions - seizure matters. (installment #4).

Publication Date: Mar 23rd, 2007.

1. MRI Reveals New Epilepsy Surgery Candidates: Diffuse EEG patterns do not necessarily mean children don’t have a focal lesion amenable to the surgery.
2. Depression in Epilepsy Patients Is Common, but Undertreated: Consider using the PHQ-9 depression “instrument” in your practice.
3. New Approaches to Epilepsy: three intriguing new therapeutic approaches being funded by grants from the Epilepsy Research Foundation.
4. And last but not least: Relax, I Trained With Dr. Nintendo - You might want a neurosurgeon who plays at least 3 hours of video games per week!

 

 #58: Neurology's Cutting Edge, Installment #5 [23:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (560)

Surgery and trauma-related issues for neurology professionals, installment #5.

Publication Date: Feb 23rd, 2007.

Show Notes: Carotid stenting versus carotid endarterectomy: from a large meta analysis we now have the first statistically significant difference ever seen in the serious adverse events after treatment with these two surgical alternatives.

Gamma Knife for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy: the radiosurgery was performed on 30 patients. Essentially 70% of the patients were seizure free at 2 years.

In memoriam: Dr. Hugo W. Moser died on Jan. 20, 2007. His landmark study was on the preventive effects of Lorenzo’s Oil, profiled in the popular film of the same name, starring Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte.

Links:

• www.cms.hhs.gov: You can submit your comments regarding Center for Medicare Services proposed expanded coverage of carotid stenting. Deadline for submissions: Mar 3rd, 2007.
• www.myelin.org: Foundation started by Lorenzo Odone’s family. Focused on finding the solution for remyelination.

 

 Synopsis of our first 3 installments of Spasms, Fits, Convulsions [32:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (526)

Synopsis of our first 3 installments of Spasms, Fits, Convulsions - All things seizure-related (STAT episodes 6, 17 and 39)

Publication Date: Dec 29, 2006.

Remember the relationship between status epilepticus and structural damage to the heart? And how about the video game related to visually induced seizures, and the guidelines to prevent them? And remember what might be considered one of neurology’s ’silent epidemics,’ and how we might diagnose it? We also peak in again on ‘The Mystery of Epilepsy and the Missed Period,’ and then wrap this fiftieth episode of STAT with fresh seizure-related Rapid Fire News from Dec’s Clinical Neurology News.

 

 #39 - Spasms, Fits, Convulsions [36:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (564)

All things seizure-related, with focus on epilepsy. This is installment #3 of Spasms, Fits, and Convulsions - All Things Seizure-Related.

Publication Date: 10/13/06.

Show notes: We look at exciting clinical developments in epilepsy, with focus on medical imaging to locate origin of seizures. MRI is already able to identify seizure foci in infants. Our lead story is on combining different imaging modalities — in this case PET and CT — to find seizure foci even when MRI can’t.